Malaria vaccines to reduce deaths by 40 per cent

The implementation of the malaria vaccine, Mosquirix, will reduce the number of children who die from the disease by 40 per cent yearly.

This is according to the Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Anthony Nsiah-Asare.

In a statement issued on Friday, Dr Nsiah-Asare said the vaccine would provide additional protection of 40 per cent to children against malaria.

Commenting on the fear that was being created by some persons that the vaccine was capable of making people impotent and was an agenda from the West to harm Africans especially Ghanaians, Dr Nsiah-Asare said about 15,000 children across seven African countries were taken through the first trial phase of the vaccine in 2014.

He said in Ghana, children in Agogo and Kintampo were enrolled as part of the second and third phase of the trials, adding that, over 3,000 children received the vaccine.

He added that follow ups on the children did not reveal any major adverse findings as was being put out.

Dr Nsiah-Asare added that the vaccine has been approved for use by the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) in the implementation areas and that the FDA would continue to monitor its use as with all other vaccines.